Moore Action Collectibles did a series of busts before they went, well,
bust, based on the popular series Angel. They did busts for Angel
(modern and origin), Spike, Lorne, Cordelia, and Faith. Both Lorne and
Spike actually had multiple color variants on the outfits as well.

But when MAC followed the buffalo, Diamond Select Toys stepped in to pick
up where they left off. They've been producing figures, statues and
mini-busts, and have already released 7 of their own in the same scale and
style as the previous series. Rather than being based on Angel, these
are based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and have included Giles as a Fyarl
Demon, D'Hoffryn, one of the Gentlemen, the Judge, Kulak, Oz and Werewolf
Oz.

They have just released their eighth, the Uber-Vampire. You'll
remember this guy from the final season, when he was operating as a pawn for
Caleb and the First. Following closely behind this bust should be
several more, including a couple Buffy's and a Spike.

Packaging - ***1/2The box has some nice photos of the actual bust, with some very basic
info. It does what it needs to do best (keep the bust safe) quite
well, and they used the sturdy, solid styrofoam for the inserts, not that
damn cheap stuff that ends up all over the place. I've been repacking
busts as part of my upcoming move, and I'm once again reminded how much I
hate that cheap foam.

Sculpting - ***1/2
This work was doen by Gabriel Marquez, and he captured both the look of the
Ubervamp AND the style of the other monster mini-busts. There's
excellent detail in the face, particularly around the mouth and teeth, and
if you've forgotten what an ugly, mean looking vampire was, you'll remember
pretty quick.

The leather tunic looks great, and the undead skin texture works
perfectly. Some folks think you need to have an asymmetrical sculpt to
look ugly and scary, but the ubervamp proves otherwise.

Paint - ***
The paint isn't quite as good as the sculpt, although it's not
terrible. Some of the colors are applied with a bit of a heavy hand,
particularly around the eyes. But the work on the mouth and teeth is
great, and the skin tone looks excellent.

Design - ****I already mentioned it briefly in the sculpt section, but it's
definitely worth mentioning again - the design and style matches up with the
other monster mini-busts perfectly. He's in scale, and done without arms, in
the classic bust style.

The base is also adorned with a symbol that fans will appreciate, and
connecting the bases to the characters this way is another nice touch.
Although the base isn't identical to the other bases, the style still
matches up.

Value - **1/2At around $40, he's a pretty average value on the bust market. You
can find him for a few bucks cheaper if you look around (and I have some
suggestions below), but getting busts less than $35 these days is getting to
be pretty tough.

He's also a limited run of 2000, but that's probably pretty accurate for
the current demand.

Overall - ***1/2Let me first say I'm not thrilled at all with the new humans DST is
putting out. The slightly smaller size than the regular minibusts
(they have to be slightly smaller to have 2/3rds of their body) and the
completely different design means it's very unlikely I'll be picking any of
them up. If they can't fit in with these, then they don't do me much
good.

On the flip side, I'm very happy to see them keeping the monsters in the
same style. UberVamp fits right in with the other monsters from both
MAC and DST, and will look fantastic on the shelf next to them. The
paint ops were a tad weak, but the sculpt and design make up for any slight
failing.